Color Series: Bright Yellow
by Ryan Brooklyn
Summary: Angela Barry’s 13th birthday with her best friend Cedric Diggory.  Friendship fluffiness abounds. Set premovies and prebooks.


**Disclaimer: **_I do not own anything Harry Potter. Only Angela Barry and her mother. Everyone else belong solely to J.K. Rowling._

**Rating: **G

**Genre:** Friendship/Adventure

**Summary:** Angela Barry's 13th birthday with her best friend Cedric Diggory. Friendship fluffiness abounds. Part of my Oneshot Color Series.

* * *

**Bright Yellow**

I squealed in happiness as I opened my present from Cedric. I leaped up and hugged him tightly.

"Thanks Cedric! I love it!"

He smiled and hugged me back. "I thought you might. You know, it's not easy finding a piece of jewelry that suits you."

I punched him in the stomach. He grunted but knew I was pleased with his choice. It was a simple but elegant ankle bracelet that was a dull brown color. But it was a special kind of bracelet that turned colors in the water.

"There's a lake near here," Cedric said. "You want to go try it out?"

I looked at Mum. She smiled and nodded. I ran for the door.

"Race you there!"

He followed me out. My bare feet hit the ground in a rhythm that Cedric soon matched and overcame. He arrived at the lake first. I came as a close second, breathing heavily.

"Not fair," I gasped. "You're older and . . . taller."

He looked thoughtful. "Yes, I suppose you were at a disadvantage there. Do you want to race again?"

"And have you let me win? Never. That wouldn't be fair either."

"So what do you suggest?"

"This." I rushed to him and pushed him into the water.

He sat down hard in water up to his chest, looking wet and surprised. I stood laughing in the shallows. He started laughing as well as he grabbed me and dragged me into the water also. I swam to the deeper part and watched as the bracelet on my ankle glowed and changed. I smiled.

Cedric came up behind me and pushed my head under the water. I came up sputtering and tried to do the same to him. He grabbed me around the waist and threw me shrieking away from him. I dove under and swam to where I knew his feet were. Grabbing them I pulled him under to meet me.

We came up together and began splashing each other in great revelry. I swam away in order to catch my breath, my sides hurting from laughing so hard. Cedric watched me curiously as I ducked under. I swam near the bottom of the lake, looking for something I could use to my advantage in our water war. I found a nice piece of dirty looking seaweed. Tugging it out of the ground I pushed toward the surface, wondering what Cedric's expression would be when I dumped the seaweed on his head.

But I didn't move. I glanced down and noticed my bracelet and caught on a piece of wood from a sunken hunk of boat. I reached down and tried to free myself but I was stuck tight. I pulled and yanked but to no avail. I started to panic. Dropping the seaweed I wiggled and twisted my foot. Something snapped and I cried out in pain, filling my mouth with water.

Blackness started to descend on me. I struggled to keep it off. I saw a large form appear next to me. An arm encircled my waist and I discovered I was free. I let Cedric take me to the surface and then to the shore. As soon as I hit the sand I started coughing up water. Cedric placed a hand on my back and was silent while I emptied my lungs of filthy lake water.

Once I had caught my breath I slowly sat up, shivering slightly. Cedric looked distraught.

"I'm so sorry Angela. I never should have given you that bracelet. Are you all right? You almost drowned."

I gave him a withering glance. "Really Cedric? I didn't realize."

I looked down at my ankle. The bracelet was gone and it hurt like the dickens. I touched it and winced. Cedric noticed. His grey eyes looked aghast.

"You're hurt! I knew this was a bad idea, I just knew it. I'm so sorry Angela."

I punched his stomach. He doubled over, shocked into silence.

"Listen Diggory, what happened down there was an accident. You are not at fault here. It was a nice present and I'm sad to have lost it. But it was the thought that counts. Understand me?"

He nodded, sobered. "Let's get you home."

I smiled. "Now _that_ is the best idea I've heard today."

Cedric lifted me gently in his arms and started walking back to my house. He was only fifteen, but there was no doubting his strength. Already he was a champion Quidditch player. Mum gasped when she saw my swollen ankle but proceeded to minister the correct medicines without much fuss. My mother was never the fussy type.

Soon enough she had me and Cedric wrapped in blankets and sitting in front of the heater we had instead of a fireplace. She made us both cups of hot cocoa and told us to tell her what happened. She couldn't help but laugh during the part where I said I was looking for seaweed to dump on Cedric's head.

"Only you, Angela, would almost drown trying to prank someone."

I smiled sweetly. Cedric even laughed with embarrassment when I told Mum how much he had fussed over me. Later that evening we sat on the couch together. I had my head over Cedric's heart and he placed his arm around me. This was my favorite position. I loved listening to his heart beat.

When my dad had died when I was eight, I was terribly distraught. I was afraid everyone I loved was going to leave me. One day a year later Cedric had gotten very sick. I had helped tend him but it seemed like the boy would not make it. It had been my turn to watch him when he suddenly stopped breathing. I placed my head on his chest but could not find a heart beat. I had freaked out and screamed for the doctor. It had turned out that his heart had not stopped, nor his breathing. His fever had broken and the labored breathing I had been listening to for so long had ceased. He got better but I never forgot that terrifying moment when I thought my best friend was dead.

After that day I never missed an opportunity to hear Cedric's heart. I told him later our first year at Hogwarts why I always insisted to hear his heart. He said he didn't mind. That was Cedric Diggory for you. Always patient and compassionate.

"Don't ever do that again," Cedric said to me now.

I didn't move. "Do what?"

"Scare me like that again."

"Just as long as you don't give me a magical ankle bracelet again. Give me a Remembrall or something."

I could hear his smile as he replied. "It's a deal."

I smiled and soon fell asleep, counting heart beats.


End file.
